sábado, 27 de septiembre de 2014

Well, as I promised in my spanish blog, I have to start a new one in english because there´s a lot of you around the world!

So let me introduce myself.

My name is Gabriel and I have just finished my Physics degree, and this is one of the reasons why I'm starting this english blog as I am going to have a little more time to write two times in the week.

I started baking three years ago. I used to make some "yogurt cake" or "brownies" with my mum but I just wanted them to be finished and ready to be in my belly.

But then I found myself one day trying to find a present for one of my best friends, and nothing where appropriate enough for me to bought. So I decided to bake some blueberry muffins with lots of colors, a nice buttercream, put them in a funny cow-couloured box filled with candies, jellybeans, gums, tie a big blue ribbon and took a deep breath hoping she would loved it!

And she Loved it.

But something went wrong. The muffins were rock hard and tough. And I did need to know what happened to them. So I started researching through internet, and what I found was a new world.

Baking is so easy, (if I can, you can), but you have to keep an eye on everything you are doing. Don't overbeat your muffins, or you can break some teeth. Don't use cold butter, or it won't mixed properly and a very long etc.

So here I'm going to show you what I´ve been learning during this years, trying to show you something new each week.

And of course, first thing will be Blueberry Muffins.

Blueberry Muffins

INGREDIENTS

· 2 cups (250g) of all purpose flour

· 1 cup (220g) of white sugar

· 1 cup (240ml) of soft vegetable oil (like soft olive or sunflower)

· 1/2 cup (120ml) of yogurt· 1/2 cup (120ml) of whole milk

· 2 tsp (10ml) of baking powder

· 2 tsp (10ml) of vanilla extract

· 1 tsp of lemon zest (only yellow skin)

· 1 cup (240ml) of blueberries (fresh or frozen)

· 2 eggs

· A pinch of salt

METHOD

Ok, let's get started. First thing you have to do is preheat your oven to 180ºC or 350ºFNow, by hand, in a big bol, mix the flour, sugar, lemon zest, baking powder and salt with a whisk and set aside. Take spoonful of this dry-mix and toss the blueberries with it to prevent from sinking.

Now the wet ingredients. In another bol or jug, combine the oil, eggs, vanilla extract, milk and yogurt.
I like to use unsweetened yogurt or low fat greek yogurt. Maybe a lemon flavored one can be a good combination with blueberries.

Pour your wet ingredients over the dry ones and mixed them with a spatula or a wooden spoon.

And now the best advice I learnt about baking, Don't OVERBEAT! Just move everything until there's no more dry ingredients. It could even be a little bit lumpy, it will help blueberries distribute among the muffin instead falling to the bottom.

Don't overbeat! Again... just in case you don't believe this is important. They won't puff up if they are overbeated.

Now mix the blueberries in the mixture, gently. If they are frozen blueberries, they will stain the batter.

Then transfer to the muffin tin with muffin papers, and into the oven for 20 minutes.

To test if they are ok, insert a toothpick in the center of one of the muffins and if it comes out dry, it's done.It's time to wait until they are cold at room temperature and you are ready to eat!I hope you like them. :)